Because of Your Smile
by LiteraryParadox
Summary: Aimee, Sarah, and Grant travel to South Korea on a vacation after their senior year of high school.  But when they meet the members of SHINee and B2ST, how will the two three groups collide? And when it's time, can they bare to leave?
1. Chapter 1

My friends and I are in a competition: "Who Can Write the Most Dramatic Drama". This means pregnancies, scandals, suicides, and overly dramatic scenes. It's going to be completely awesome. We're also going to feature our favorite Korean Pop stars, because we're dorks like that. Enjoy!

Sarah was going absolutely nuts. More than usual, I mean. I guess we were all a little frantic inside, but this was so important to Sarah. To clarify, me, Sarah, and Aimee were all sitting in a small airplane thirty-two thousand feet in the air, traveling literally across the globe.

"Oh my effing gawd," Sarah screeched, her eyes absolutely radiating excitement. She couldn't sit still in her seat, and I'm pretty sure the flight attendant was staring at her, but Sarah didn't seem to mind. Neither did Aimee or I.

"We're actually on our way," Aimee cried happily, fist pumping once in the air victoriously after she brushed her golden bangs from her eyes.

"I know!" I grinned cheerfully. "It feels like we've been waiting for this for years, huh?" The girls simultaneously agreed with me. Both of the girls sat on my right, so I was the lucky one who got the airplane window seat.

The reason my friends and I were so excited was because we were going on vacation. Sarah, Aimee, and I had been best friends since we were sixteen, all throughout junior and senior years of high school. Now, after graduating, we were taking advantage of our freedom by taking a vacation across the globe to the one place we all had been eyeing for years: Korea.

The reasons are odd and perhaps unexplainable, but sophomore year, Sarah had been absolutely entranced with Korean music. And it had traveled from there like a disease. Aimee had been infected next, and it wasn't long before her and Sarah were spouting off in Korean phrases and small conversations. It was entertaining, but I had no idea that I would catch 'yellow fever', as it had been dubbed, next. But soon, I fell under South Korea's trance. At first it was just the music: it was catchy and fun. But it was more than that. The culture and natural beauty of the country was fascinating. And the men. Oh, the men. They were brazen and playful, and I soon felt myself falling for attractive features of Asian men: they had soft, round faces, but well-built bodies, and stylish hair. The fashion was so fresh and urban, as compared to my small home-town in Louisiana.

So when high school had ended, all of us had turned our sights to our solitary objective: vacationing in South Korea. At first, it didn't seem like it would happen, as Aimee's parents were a bit hesitant: they hadn't really understood our fascination in the country. (Sarah's mom had long since accepted the fact, and my parents were encouraging of my interest.) But, finally, Aimee's parents surrendered and agreed, and we left on the soonest flight that we could schedule.

And here we were, all freaking out on a plane bound for the country we'd felt so much fondness towards. Aimee was a little drowsy, but she was peering over my shoulder, looking out the window at the vast ocean that spread far below us. Sarah, sitting on Aimee's other side, was twisting and leaning at her seat, creeping on a group of young Korean guys a few seats ahead of us. Without warning, she turned her head towards us.

"Wouldn't that be insane if b2st was on our plane?" Sarah whispered with crazy eyes.

"I think my ovaries would explode," Aimee laughed, looking like Sarah's conversation had woken her up a little.

I just kind of rolled my eyes and smirked at Sarah. "Didn't you say they're doing a tour near where we're staying? Do you think we can go to the concert?"

Thanks to Sarah's freakishly precise planning, not only were we flying over on a very cheap flight, but our temporary house was in a large town where Cube and SM Entertainment often held events and concerts: it was a perfect fit for the three of us.

"Yes, they're coming, and if we don't go to that concert I will find the highest cliff in South Korea and throw myself off of it," she said, her face completely serious. Aimee and I laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

Near the end of the flight, we were all incredibly cramped and quite grumpy. I had no idea of the local time, but it was pitch black outside. I never seemed to be able to fall asleep on airplanes, so I just looked through the window, which just showed soft silhouette of the Korean city below us. It wouldn't be long before the plane landed, the Captain announced in mispronounced English.

I glanced to my left to see what Aimee and Sarah were doing. Sarah was, predictably, sleeping and Aimee was reading a book and snacking on those tiny packs of peanuts the flight attendants often give out. My nose wrinkled at the scent, but I grinned, and continued to look out the window. Even in the dark, I could notice that the buildings were rapidly growing: we were finally landing.

The plane shifted subtle, curving just a little bit to the left. Even though I could barely feel the change, Sarah instantly woke from her sleep. She looked insanely awake, which was really odd for her.

"Wakey-wakey~" Aimee sung without glancing away from her book. Sarah gave her a little shove, even though she was grinning from ear to ear.

"Are we landing?" She asked, her pretty brown eyes so wide they made perfect spheres.

"I think so," I said, gesturing out the window. The girls leaned across my shoulder to look out at the Korean town that we were approaching. I could faintly smell those peanuts and it made me want to gag; I absolutely hated the smell of peanuts. As I coughed and sputtered wildly, the girls practically started jumping in their seats like little kids.

A short eternity later, the plane had landed and we were allowed to get off. In the frenzy created by the passengers wanting to be the first to leave the plane, I was far behind Aimee and Sarah, who I could spot far ahead exiting into the airport at the front of the plane. I laughed at their excitement, and then grabbed my messenger bag by my feet that held my carry-on luggage, which was mostly notebooks, translation books, my Kindle, and pens and pencils.

Seeing a gap in the aisle, I stepped out from my seat and reached up to grab my second bag from the overhead bin. The bag made a loud _clunk!_ sound and absolutely refused to come out of the overhead bin. I stood on my tiptoes, and tried to see what the bag had got caught on. In the meanwhile, I was blocking many antsy people who wanted to get off the plane ASAP. Feeling their anger, I got all flustered and awkward, mumbling apologies. I tugged desperately at the bag's handle, which was facing me.

Suddenly, the bag came flying at me, causing me to fall backwards onto the plane seats that were behind me. Before I could even begin to turn red at my clumsiness, I realized someone was leaning over me.

A Korean guy with orange hair in a loose ponytail was leaning over me, one hand still on my bag, which he must have helped release. I only glimpsed at his face once or twice, and desperately tried to stand myself up. Oh, God, he was really cute. And I could smell cologne on him; it was musty and extremely intruiging. I must have looked like the biggest moron on the face of the earth. Feeling the blush rise to my cheeks, the boy helped me to my feet.

"Thank you!" I said quickly, avoiding his gaze.

"It's nothing," he responded with a heavy Asian accent. I swear right then and there my cheeks darkened about five shades.

I took my bags and scuttled towards the front of the plane, happy I was facing away from the boy. As I stepped out of the plane onto the jetway, the middle aged Korean pilot gave me a miniature bow and a terrible "Goodbye" which sounded like "Groodba".

Not wanting to seem disrespectful, I returned it quickly with a quick, "Annyong-hi kyeshipshio!" The pilot looked surprised for a moment before nodding his head again. Smirking a little to myself as I continued walking, I hoped the cute guy behind me had heard my smooth translation.

Finally making my way into the airport, I found Aimee and Sarah leaning against a large pillar, hands on hips, bags on the ground. At my arrival, Aimee smiled and Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"Where did you _go?_" She asked incredulously. Aimee started laughing at the way she asked it. It made me smile a little too.

"Sorry," I said with a quick grin. "My bags were giving me some trouble. I got some help from a cute Korean guy, though." At that, the girls seemed to stand up straighter.

"WHO?" Aimee shouted.

"WHERE IS HE?" Sarah demanded.

I glanced around the area quickly, searching for the orange-haired guy. I desperately tried to ignore the attention that Sarah and Aimee had called to us. We were totally enforcing the loud, obnoxious American stereotype. Even though there weren't many people in the vicinity, I couldn't seem to find the boy, though.

"Huh," I said aloud. "I dunno where he went. He was right behind me." Glancing back at the gate, I saw it was being closed, signifying all the passengers had left the plane. "That's super odd," I said again with a little frown. I tried scanning the faces of the crowd in front of us, but I soon realized I hadn't really saw the boy's face; only his hair and the scent of his cologne.

Aimee cursed lightly with a little frown and Sarah just shook her head at me, as if she were disappointed. "Oh Grant," she said dramatically, eyes dull. "I'll bet that was your only chance to hook up with a Korean guy. Good luck."

She's probably right. Dammit.


	3. Chapter 3

Reaching the baggage claim area of the airport was an epic adventure of its own, but because of Sarah's clever translations, it didn't take as long as it could have. Waiting near the belt to begin rotating and dispensing our flight's baggage, we all took a seat on a group of uncomfortable benches nearby.

"God," I complained, "I always hate this part. It takes a jillion hours." I remembered why I hated flying; not being able to sleep, the long baggage wait, and those damn peanuts.

"Yeah, but you can hate it in _Korean_." Aimee pronounced smoothly.

"What difference does that make?" Asked Sarah incredulously. I raised my eyebrows, nodding along with her.

She simply replied, "Everything's more fun in Korea!"

I snickered, and I realized she was kind of right. To pass the time, we all started reading the signs on the walls together. Sarah was clearly the best at the language; Aimee was very good also. I was still terrible. It still made the normally-miserable period entertaining.

After a couple of minutes, I realized that the people standing around with us were all from our flight; I recognized a couple of people. I searched high and low for the orange-haired boy, but no sight. Not like it mattered, anyway, right? He was just being helpful. Even so, my spirits fluttered a little. This was why I try not to like people: I get hurt so easily.

With a loud beeping sound, the luggage belt started up and luggage began to appear through the little door. I stepped forward, intending to grab all of our luggage, but the girls wouldn't allow me to be chivalrous and came with me. We found Aimee's bright pink Hello Kitty luggage quickly enough. Sarah's maroon checkerboard suitcase came rolling along next. And then we had to wait for my own luggage. After a long, long wait, we began to see the same suitcases over and over again: my luggage was simply not there.

Quite annoyed, we went to the help desk. Sarah did all of the talking to the large Korean middle-aged man. It appeared my luggage had been delayed and not made it on the last flight. That meant it was in Atlanta, Georgia still. I cursed under my breath. Sarah gave the man the address of the place we were staying at, and we were allowed to leave.

We made it to the front gates of the airport. Sarah and Aimee stepped swiftly through the front doors, and I nearly did before stepping back. They gave be curious looks.

"Hold on!" I called, beginning to walk back into the previous corridor. "I'm going to check the local time!"

I didn't see a clock in the hallway, so I kept walking until I arrived at the ticket counter area. I glanced around the room for a clock, but I was a little distracted; a rather large group of people were situated in the middle of the room. Not paying them much attention, I searched around them and found a large white clock on the opposing wall. It was 10:47. Too bad I was so jetlagged, I probably wouldn't feel tired until morning. Turning my back on the large crowd, I returned to the front gates and resumed my walking with Aimee and Sarah.

We started towards the nearby Busan Metro station, where we purchased subway tickets and sat down in our own private car. There was no one else in our area. The subway started up slowly, accelerating to a comfortable speed after a couple seconds.

"What am I going to do?" I groaned, sliding down the seat so I could rest my head on the back of the car. Aimee patted my head comfortingly.

"Oh, you'll be fine." She said with a little grin.

"Fine? Everything I needed was in that bag. I have no clothes, no deodorant, no toothbrush…"

"We can buy deodorant and a toothbrush in Busan, Grant. It's not like it's a specialty item," Sarah said, rolling her eyes.

"But what about clothes? It'll probably take three or four days for the luggage to come in. Do you _want _me in the same underwear for that long?" I sighed a little, gripping the messenger bag resting on my lap tenderly.

"We'll buy you an outfit or two once we get there. It won't be a big deal," Aimee said, glancing at Sarah. They exchanged a firm glance, both of their faces spreading into smiles.

"But _we're_ going to dictate what clothes you buy. We're in Korea, Grant! The fashion here is urban chic!" Sarah cried. "Get ready to look like your favorite pop star!" She laughed.


End file.
